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Saturday, 31 October 2015

Asks Washington to
stop its dangerous and provocative acts in South China Sea

BEIJING/WASHINGTON,
October 30

China's Naval
Commander told his US counterpart that a minor incident could spark off a war
in the South China Sea, if the United States did not stop its “provocative
acts” in the disputed waterway, the Chinese navy said on Friday.

Admiral Wu Shengli
made the comments to US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson
during a video teleconference on Thursday, according to a Chinese naval
statement.

The two officers
held talks after a US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of one of
Beijing's man-made islands in the contested Spratly archipelago on Tuesday.

China has rebuked
Washington over the patrol, the most significant US challenge yet to
territorial limits China effectively claims around its seven artificial islands
in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

"If the United
States continues with these kinds of dangerous, provocative acts, there could
well be a seriously pressing situation between frontline forces from both sides
on the sea and in the air, or even a minor incident that sparks war," the
statement paraphrased Wu as saying.

"(I) hope the
US side cherishes the good situation between the Chinese and U.S. navies that
has not come easily and avoids these kinds of incidents from happening
again," Wu said. Speaking earlier, a US official said the naval chiefs
agreed to maintain dialogue and follow protocols to avoid clashes.

Scheduled port
visits by US and Chinese ships and planned visits to China by senior U.S. Navy
officers remained on track, the official said.

"None of that
is in jeopardy. Nothing has been cancelled," said the official.

Both officers agreed
on the need to stick to protocols established under the Code for Unplanned
Encounters at Sea (CUES).

"They agreed
that it's very important that both sides continue to use the protocols under
the CUES agreement when they're operating close to keep the chances for
misunderstanding and any kind of provocation from occurring," the U.S.
official said.

Indeed, Wu said he
believed the Chinese and U.S. navies had plenty of scope for cooperation and
should both "play a positive role in maintaining peace and stability in
the South China Sea".

A U.S. Navy
spokesman stressed Washington's position that U.S. freedom of navigation
operations were meant to "protect the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of
the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law".
Chinese warships followed the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, as it
moved through the Spratlys on Tuesday. The U.S.

Navy is operating in
a maritime domain bristling with Chinese ships. While the U.S. Navy is expected
to keep its technological edge in Asia for decades, China's potential trump
card is sheer weight of numbers, with dozens of naval and coastguard vessels routinely
deployed in the South China Sea, security experts say.

China has
overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei
in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes
every year. — Reuters

Despite India and
Russia still having ‘serious’ differences over the joint development of the
Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), the two-sides are set to immediately
re-commence the stalled negotiation process on the plane. Talks have been
stalled for the past two years.

Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar will take up the issue with his Russian counterpart Sergei
Shoigu at the annual meeting of the two ministers in Moscow, sources have
indicated. Senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers will be part of Parrikar’s
delegation.

Parrikar has left
for Russia and will be meeting the Russian minister on November 2.

Before that, he will
visit St Petersburg on the north-west coast of Russia. He will be visiting the
Admiralty shipyard that makes submarines and also runs a state-run research
centre. Though the IAF had a demand of some 127 FGFAs, it has halved its demand
to have just three squadrons (around 18 planes in each). It was first reported
in The Tribune in its edition dated August 11.

There are two parts
to the FGFA project. One is the research and development (R&D) contract for
$11 billion for long-term development of the jet. It has been pending
ratification since 2013. The second is the actual joint-production or
manufacturing of the plane. The preliminary design stage of the FGFA programme
was completed in June 2013 and India has so far spent Rs 1,483.15 crore on it.

As a result, the
T-50 fighter jet has been built for the Russians under its PAK-FA (Prospective
Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) programme for the FGFA. The jet is
already test-flying and is slated to be inducted into the Russian air force in
2016.

New Delhi wants a
more powerful engine; a greater share in the joint-production and is looking to
get some of the planes in an off-the-shelf deal and not wait longer as its
fighter-jet fleet is dwindling.

New Delhi is likely
to suggest to Moscow that the T-50 fighter jet could be supplied to the IAF
while the research to improve upon the aircraft could be carried on
simultaneously.

China's highest
ranking defence officer will visit India next month, the first in a decade as
the PLA seeks to expand relations with the Indian military and increase mutual
trust along the border amid a series of incursions by Chinese soldiers. General
Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the China's Military Commission, will visit
India and Pakistan in the middle of November, Chinese defence spokesman, Senior
Colonel Yang Yujun said at a media briefing here today.

These visits are
regarded as part of Chinese military's efforts to expand ties with its Indian
counterpart and solidify close defence cooperation with close ally Pakistan's
armed forces. The purpose of the visit is to implement the consensus reached
between the political leadership of the two countries and enhance friendship
and mutual cooperation between China and the two countries, Yang said. While
Fan's visit to Pakistan is seen as an attempt to solidify relations in the
backdrop of China's USD 46 billion investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor,
his visit to India comes at a time when New Delhi and Beijing have made efforts
to improve defence ties. Fan is the highest uniformed official whose rank is
above that of the Defence Minister in China's military hierarchy.

The CMC is the over
arching body of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), headed by President Xi
Jinping who also heads the military and the ruling Communist Party of China
(CMC). Indian officials say that in his three-day visit, Fan will hold talks
with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and other top defence officials. A host
of issues will be discussed including efforts by both sides to improve
relations between the troops deployed along the disputed border in the backdrop
of a number of tense standoffs.

The Chinese
general's visit to India comes in the immediate backdrop of a meeting of the
Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) which since 2012 is
focusing on resolving the tense standoffs arising out of Chinese troops'
incursions into areas on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The standoffs began before the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India as
his first overseas destination soon after he took over the post in 2013 as a
goodwill gesture.

The standoff in
which Chinese troops pitched tents in Depsang area in Ladakh continued for
several days before they withdrew.

NEW DELHI: In an
unprecedented move, the defence ministry on Thursday admitted before the
Supreme Court that it had made a mistake by distributing all 1,484 colonel
posts among Army's combat units under the post-Kargil war 'command-and-exit'
formula to lower the battalion commanding officer's age.

Additional solicitor
general Maninder Singh told a bench of Justices T S Thakur and Kurian Joseph
that the allocation of colonel posts to just the combat units of Army was wrong
and said defence minister Manohar Parrikar, in consultation with the Army top
brass, had decided to create 140 more such posts to provide better promotion
opportunities to lieutenant colonels in Army's support arm units - air defence,
corps of engineers and corps of signals.

Of these 1,484
posts, 700-odd were distributed on pro-rata basis among different units.
However, the manner of distribution of the second tranche of 700-odd colonel
posts in 2009 during UPA regime was challenged in the Armed Forces Tribunal,
which had ordered pro-rata distribution. This order was challenged in the SC by
the defence ministry.

For months, the
defence ministry kept defending the decision to confine the additional posts of
colonels to combat units on the basis of the recommendations an expert committee
headed by A V Singh, which had found the Indian Army's initial response to
incursions by Pakistan regulars and infiltrators during Kargil war to be
sluggish.

"The committee
found that age of colonels, who command a battalion comprising 800-odd soldiers,
was a little over 40 years while the same for Pakistan and Chinese armies was
37 years. The committee had recommended a command-and-exit policy by which
colonels would serve as battalion commanders for two to three years and exit to
a non-command post by the time they reach the age of 40. To bring down the age
to 37 years, an additional 1,484 post colonels were created," the ministry
had said.

However, after the
bench headed by Justice Thakur made it clear that it was unfair to support arm
units, the defence minister and the Army top brass reviewed the situation and
offered to create 140 more posts of colonels for air defence, corps of
engineers and corps of signals.

In a combative
articulation of the fresh decision, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh
informed the court that the government wanted to be fair to all sections of the
armed forces and this made the bench call the ASG "General Singh".
However, the ASG clarified that the normal promotional avenues would be
available to Army Services Corps, EME and other non-combat units.

The bench termed the
decision as "very fair" and told the ministry to ensure that these
additional 140 posts were given to the meritorious among the support arm units
on the basis of merit list drawn by earlier promotion boards. It asked the ASG
to submit by November 19 the time-frame within which these 140 promotions to
colonel posts would be effected.

Lead petitioner Lt
Colonel P K Choudhary argued in person and alleged that the Army Service Corps
was being discriminated against in promotion to colonel posts. But the bench
brushed aside the charge saying he had chosen ASC wing on his own volition.

"Persons who
want to get faster promotion in Army always choose a combat unit rather than a
non-comabt unit like ASC. When the infantry is facing bullets, ASC men have a
comparatively cushy job, their role being limited to supplying ration. We are not
going to change the policy decision framed as per the report given by expert
committee headed by A V Singh," the bench said.

The Defence Ministry
of the Modi government under Manohar Parrikar has asked the Indian army to stop
buffalo slaughter, reports an English daily.

The ministry has
asked the army to ensure that none of its units indulge in the ritual
slaughtering of buffaloes, which is an age-old tradition. Instructions have
been issued to put an end to the practice of certain army units to behead a
male buffalo during Dussehra, that is attributed mostly to Gurkha tradition.

The ministry
accepted that the practice was traditional but said that 'laws have now
changed', reports the daily. Interestingly, the government is using the 'animal
cruelty' angle combined with the fact that buffalo slaughter is illegal by law,
to push for this ban.

"It is
understood that there may be some who wish to carry out this tradition but
rules should not be bent. If there is such a need, rules can be followed and
the animal can be taken to government authorized slaughter houses as per the
law," said a top defence ministry source to the English daily.

The reaction to this
diktat has been mixed. While some in the army welcomed the order, others have
opposed the move.